Layers of Experience

Michael A. Diamond and Seth Allcorn

Chapter 1 in Private Selves in Public Organizations, 2009, pp 13-29 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract In this chapter, we elaborate on the idea that organizations are experiential and relational systems. A tripartite relational model rooted in contemporary object relations theory is presented. The model is based upon the dialectical interplay between Thomas Ogden’s three modes of experience—depressive, paranoid-schizoid, and autistic-contiguous (1989, 1994). This dialectical framework stresses the phenomena of dynamically interacting social and psychological structures (psychological versus social, internal versus external, subjective versus objective). This view of human relations acknowledges that individuals join social organizations with self agency and identities in place. It is the interaction, or dialectical exchange, of these realities that shape the psychodynamics of organizational cultures and experience, helping to answer the action researcher’s riddle: “what is it really like to work here?”

Keywords: Projective Identification; Organizational Member; Public Organization; Organizational Boundary; Object Relation Theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-62009-4_2

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.palgrave.com/9780230620094

DOI: 10.1057/9780230620094_2

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Palgrave Macmillan Books from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().